United States Fourth Bureau Definitives

Part IV
by Michael Mills

Two-Cent Type II

The production of the two-cent coil issues called for a new die from which to make a new transfer roll. In the process, the die was retouched, adding some definition to the subject's hair and deeper shading between a scroll and frame design. This type II die went into use at about the same time as the basic postage rate went from two- to three-cents, and shortly thereafter the Post Office became dissatisfied with the new die. It was then removed from production, though not before a period when type I and II were both in use.

At the time stamp collectors were undecided on how to readily distinguish the types from each other, and as the volume of two-cent production and type II stamps dwindled, this resulted in the type II generally being overlooked and uncollected, which gives us today's scarcity and steep prices.

Coil Waste

Coil waste issues were the result of portions of rotary print runs initially perfed for coil usage being deemed unusable for separation into coil rolls. This coil waste was eventually collected and processed as sheet issues with additional 11 gauge horizontal perfing. One- and two-cent coil waste sheets were issued in '23, with a further printing in 1924.

The 1924 coil wastes had never been perfed for coil usage, so they are 11 gauge in both aspects. However, as the Post Office did not regard the coil waste printings as individual issues, there was no announcement of their issuance or sales through their philatelic sales units. Naturally, collectors and dealers were outraged, and the outcome was that the Post Office soon decided to do what normally was done with printing waste --- destroy it.

The coil waste issues are detectable by measuring the widths of their design. They are a half millimeter wider horizontally.

The 1932 Washington

In 1932 the Bureau issued a three-cent George Washington definitive to mark the man's 200th birthday. It was officially carried as a regular issue, but not officially regarded as an addition to the Fourths. The same year the Post Office also released a set of 12 definitive-sized stamps to mark the event that included its own three-cent value. Though the regular issue three-cent's visual lineage and production marks it an obvious Fourth, it unfortunately stands alone.

Overprints

Adding to the series are the various overprints that first appeared during 1929. These were applied by the Bureau's precanceler and read "Kans." and "Nebr." Post office thefts in Kansas and Nebraska were rising, and it was thought overprinted stamps would deter the sale and use of stolen stamps. Such overprinted values up to ten-cents were issued, and were valid postage throughout the USA.

However, postmasters outside of those states weren't accepting these overprints as valid postage, regarding them as standard precancels. If this experiment had been successful, overprints had been slated for application to the then-forty-eight states, but the experiment could not overcome the stubborn reticence of local postmasters. (Imagine a generation of stamps with ugly black print over the engraved designs: US philately had dodged a bullet without hearing it whiz by.)